The Second Attempt
by chrysalizubeth
Summary: Inspired by Future Max, Liz and Kyle come back from the future to stop the group from splitting up. AU after Prom. Rating may go up later.


**Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Roswell.**

**Category: **Roswell

**Timeline:** after "Heart of Mine" before "Cry Your Name"; AU

**Pairings: **Present—Max/Liz, Michael/Maria, Isabel/Alex; Future—Michael/Liz/Kyle

_2015_

His screams haunted Liz more than anything she had ever experienced. As much as she loved Max and Maria, they're deaths were far less agonizing than hearing Michael's tortured cries. He was the strongest person she knew, and if he could fall, it was only a matter of time before the rest of the resistance fell behind him.

If she and Kyle didn't succeed with their plan, they would not make it back to lead the others. She had little hope for the mission since Future Max hadn't succeeded when he tried. The deaths of the others had been postponed, not stopped.

"Are you sure we can't go back to an earlier time?" asked Kyle.

Liz looked at him sadly. "We've been over this. We can't risk changing too much."

"I know. I'm just afraid we'll be too late to save Alex."

"Kyle, you know it's not your fault." She put her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "And we'll save him, if nothing else, we will save Alex."

With that, Liz activated the device. Bright light engulfed them and they were gone.

_2000_

When Sheriff Valenti got a call about a bright light in the desert, he responded to it himself. He had learned to assume that in Roswell, mysterious lights meant alien involvement. He stopped by the Crashdown on the way. He intended only to make sure that the kids new where he went, but Michael and Max insisted on coming with him.

"So what do you think we'll find?" asked Michael from the back seat.

Neither of the other men answered. They just hoped the Skins weren't back.

Locating the approximate source of the light was going to be difficult. Fortunately they were spared the undertaking when they spotted two figures walking a couple hundred yards from the road.

"Who would be walking out here?" asked Max.

"I don't know, but we're gonna find out," answered Valenti resolutely.

He pulled the patrol car off the road. The two strangers stopped walking and waited for them. Twenty feet from them, the car stopped and its occupants got out.

"Who are you? What's your business here?" demanded the Sheriff with his hand resting near his gun.

The man stepped forward with his arms opened. "I'm hurt. You don't recognize your only child."

"Kyle? How? You're at the Crashdown..." Jim stared at the man before him. He must have been in his thirties, but he looked very much like Kyle. His voice was Kyle's, as was the smirk on his face. He had a scar above is eye that wasn't there at present.

Astonished, he looked at Kyle's companion, she had midlength brown hair and chocolate eyes. Her face was somber and she was staring at Max.

Max was staring at her as well. "Liz?" he asked his voice unsure.

"Hi, Max," she said. "It's been a long time."

"What are you doing out here? We just left you...."

"At the Crashdown," she finished. "That is us from this time. The two of us came back from the future to change it."

"Change it how?" asked Michael suspiciously.

"That's better explained to everyone at once. There are some things that my past self knows that the rest of you don't," said Liz with a tone of finality.

The ride back to town was a quiet one. Michael called ahead and had everyone meet at his place so they could have some privacy.

Max stared at Liz in the rear view mirror. It was true that he and present Liz were not together, but in the back of his mind he always thought that they would end up together. This future Liz had said it had been a long time. Had they stopped being friends? Had the aliens gone back to Antar? Had he died? And why was Kyle with her? Out of all of the group he was always least involved in the weird stuff.

The moment the two future visitors walked into Michael's apartment, all speculation about the reason for the meeting ceased. A second later everyone was speaking at once.

"OH MY GOD!"

"What the hell!?"

"What year are you from?"

"Why did you come back?"

"It didn't work did it?" This was directed at the future Liz by the present Liz.

Future Liz shook her head sadly. "No."

"Everybody shut up!" Michael commanded. He turned to the visitors. "Everyone's here, so please explain where or when you came from and why you're here now."

Future Liz cleared her throat, "About six ago your time, present Liz was visited by a future Max."

Everyone turned to look at their Liz. She nodded.

Future Liz continued, "He came from 2014. He told me that we were unable to fight our enemies because Tess was gone. She had left because Max and I were together. He said that the only way for us to survive was for me to make Max not want me. I deliberately made my Max think that I slept with Kyle so that he would be too hurt to keep pursuing me."

Max looked back and forth between the two Liz's. Tess stared at Max, trying to will him not to immediately fall in love again.

"In our timeline, however, this didn't solve our problem. Tess left anyway. At graduation, the FBI came after us again and those of us still here left Roswell in a bus. We roamed from place to place always just ahead of the hunters. It went on for years."

Future Kyle took up the narrative, "Then we heard from Dad that there were other aliens in Roswell. We came back to investigate. Turns out they were Antarians who serve Khivar. They killed Maria and Isabel before we knew what was happening."

There was a collective gasp before he continued. "A war began between us and them. They called for reinforcements. Soon the whole state was overrun with aliens. We organized the humans who wanted to fight back into a resistance. One night, they captured Dad and Amy. Max went in after them but no one made it back alive. We found the bodies on our doorstep the next morning."

"With Max gone," Future Liz resumed, "Michael took over leading the resistance. I first thought of the idea to come back in time when we captured one of their hideouts. It had a miniature version of the Granolith in it. The plan became our back up as soon as we worked out when we would aim to arrive. In the beginning of 2015, Michael and I were caught. I escaped with Michael's help. Kyle and I decided it was time to use the plan and here we are."

The present gang sat in quiet contemplation. They were all confused and horrified. Liz seemed to be taking it the best, perhaps because she had had dealings with a future visitor before this. She was, however, upset that Future Max's plan had not worked. All that heartbreak for nothing it seemed.

Kyle just stared at his older self wondering how he got so tangled up in the alien stuff that he would leave Roswell with them.

Tess was uneasy. They hadn't said anything about it, but they were sure to know about what she had done to Alex.

Alex was the first one to speak, "You never mentioned me. What happened?"

"In our timeline," answered Future Liz, "you died two weeks from now."


End file.
